家乡网中国文学英译絮谈
《醉翁亭记》中的误译
“醉翁之意不在酒”这句成语，出自欧阳修的《醉翁亭记》。
在这篇《醉翁亭记》中，有这样的几句：
“作亭者谁？山之僧智仙也。名之者谁？太守自谓也。”
英国汉学大师翟理士（Giles）将之译成如下：
It was built by a Buddhist priest, called Deathless Wisdom, who lived among these hills, and who received the above name from the Governor.
张振玉指出这是昧于文法的误译。他说：
按“名之者谁”的“之”系代名词，代首句中“亭”字，非代“山之僧智仙”也。原意正是“作亭者谁？名亭者谁？”译者误。
耿亮的译文是这样的：
Who built the tower? A Buddhist monk, the Wise Immortal. Who gave it the mane? The Prefect refers to himself.
翟氏父子（Chu Chai and Winberg Chai）的英译是这样：
Who built the arbor? It was built by the monk of hill, call Chih Hsin. Who gave it this name? It was named by the governor himself.
“名之者谁”的“之”，译对本来是不难的。
“之”字是虚字，“也”字也是虚字。这一篇《醉翁亭记》，一共用了二十一个“也”字。
钱歌川在《中英文中的虚字》一文中说：
“Giles 就一个（虚字）也没有能够翻译出来。这实在不能怪他译得不完善。对于虚字最聪明的办法就是放下不译，与其翻译错误，不如不译的好。”
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